Woven Elevator Load-Bearing Belt for Small-Sheave Flexibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Elevator load bearing member technologies, including traditional round steel ropes and flat belt systems, face challenges in enhancing load-bearing capacity and durability, necessitating innovative designs to improve performance and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A load bearing member comprising a woven fabric with interlaced warp and weft yarns, including a central portion and lateral edge portions, where the yarns are interlocked and bonded using different methods, including partial melting and adhesive application, to create a robust and flexible structure that integrates load-bearing cords within the fabric.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional round steel ropes are used, then load bearing capacity is maintained, but flexibility and ability to wrap around smaller sheaves is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flat belt construction with woven fabric and flexible cord elements instead of traditional round steel ropes. This flexible flat structure enables the belt to wrap around smaller sheaves more effectively while maintaining load bearing capacity through the integrated cord reinforcement within the fabric layers.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention combines multiple materials with different properties: woven fabric provides flexibility and surface area, while embedded cords provide tensile strength and load bearing capacity. This composite structure resolves the contradiction by integrating both flexible and strong elements into a unified belt system.
2Adaptability or versatility
If flat belt technologies are used, then flexibility and sheave wrapping capability are improved, but load bearing capacity and durability are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The flat belt is constructed as a composite structure with woven fabric layers providing flexibility and embedded cord elements providing enhanced tensile strength and load bearing capacity. This combination allows the belt to maintain both flexibility for sheave wrapping and sufficient strength for heavy loads.
Solution Approach 2:
The cords are nested within the woven fabric layers, with the fabric acting as a matrix that holds and protects the load-bearing cords. This nested arrangement allows the flexible fabric to conform to sheaves while the embedded cords carry the mechanical loads.
3Ease of manufacture
If uniform warp yarn interlocking is used throughout the fabric, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but edge portion durability and resistance to unraveling are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements different warp yarn interlocking patterns in different regions of the fabric. The lateral edge portions have increased warp yarn interlocking with weft yarns compared to the central portion, providing enhanced durability and resistance to unraveling at the edges where stress concentrations occur, while maintaining simpler construction in the central load-bearing region.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides a secure, flexible, and cost-effective load bearing member with extended service life, capable of wrapping around smaller sheaves, allowing for reduced motor sizes and enhanced performance in elevator systems, while maintaining structural integrity and reducing manufacturing costs.
Implementation Method 1
at least some of the yarns have a first melting temperature that is higher than a second melting temperature of at least some others of the yarns; the at least some others of the yarns are at least partially melted thereby bonding the yarns together
Implementation Method 2
An example embodiment having one or more features of the elevator load bearing member of any of the previous paragraphs includes an adhesive that at least partially bonds the yarns together
Implementation Method 3
the cords include a coating that is configured to at least partially melt and bond to the woven fabric
Data Source
AI summary
An illustrative example embodiment of an elevator load bearing member includes a plurality of load bearing cords and a woven fabric including a plurality of warp yarns along a length of the load bearing member and a plurality of weft yarns transverse to the length of the load bearing member. The woven fabric includes a central portion and lateral edge portions extending along the length of the load bearing member. The central portion includes the load bearing cords interlaced with the woven fabric. The lateral edge portions each include terminal ends of the weft yarns. The central portion has a first plurality of warp yarns situated between laterally outermost ones of the cords. The lateral edge portions have a second plurality of warp yarns between the laterally outermost ones of the cords and the terminal ends of the weft yarns.